I’ve been to a lot of bad rock shows in my life. They can be awkward, embarrassing, and downright painful. Then there are those that manage to transcend pain and move into a brave new frontier of entertainment. A press conference held at DigitalLife by social network pioneer Friendster just passed into the latter.

Here’s the thing: In many ways, Friendster pioneered the whole concept of social networking that has since taken the Web by storm. Without its trailblazing, I find it hard to imagine sites like MySpace and Facebook having the enormous draw they currently enjoy. The last few years haven’t been particularly kind to Friendster, however. Sure, it still gets traffic, but, at least in the U.S., it has been eclipsed in popularity.

Today at DigitalLife, the site held a press conference to announce its killer new feature (drum roll, please): band profiles. Yep.

OK, there’s a little more to it–Friendster is actually calling them “fan profiles,” referring to the fact that they can be utilized by folks in other fields, like comedians or politicians. Still, sounds familiar. Yep, MySpace has been doing it for years.

To commemorate the event, we were treated to a performance by upstate New York band Making April. About halfway through the single-song performance by the Counting Crows-esque group, those in attendance started scrambling for the blue Friendster swag-bags at the side of the room.